Saturday, August 23, 2008 | Dr. TAHER ALWAN

The Dancer and the War

(dedicated to the Iraqi dancer Hanaa Abdullah)

She is a woman of the world`s continentsThere is no difference between dancing and dancingThe dance is one, the human race is one.Hanaa comes from the furthest street of BaghdadIn the winter dawnCarrying her dances and songsLike blue sparrowsShe lets them loose in the days of Baghdad.She has been waiting a long time for the theatre to light upShe imagines the streets lined with jasmine bushesAnd the audiences waiving at herBut the street to the National Theatre is blockedThe jasmine bushes crushed by the tanksHanaa stands by the wall of the TheatreLooking for the lights and the audiencesShe dances and dances in the blue horizonAnd puts on a silver crownShe dances hajaa, lailat alhinaa, bintul taraf, ursul qaryahShe dances…..dances…..dancesShe swirls….swirls…..swirlsThe world swirls….swirls…..swirlsThe crowds cheer, throw her flowersShe swirls….swirls….with the music and voicesThe General stops her and says ‘No dancing, the Theatre closed,It became a military base’....................Translated by :j.Tachmintzis

Thursday, July 3, 2008 | Dr. TAHER ALWAN

Eyes and emotions

Since years I am waiting for youLike the sky waiting the birdsLike the sea waiting the wavesLike the waves waiting the shoresI am the moment of loveYou are the moment of the beautyLove and beautyWhere is the time , the history of love ?Let me learn moreBut I learn from your eyes moreEven many people around youEven others looking to youEven people have eyes and emotionsEven you are free to fly in your worldButYou are here , where the love flourish in paris , in boyeon , in de pan , in monshaw , in hervewe left our smiles on the old chairsWhere we was under the rainIn the small hotelWe look to the hidden moonIt was our golden mirrorWhile we wrote our namesWho are the new lovers?Under endless shiny sky we gave the world our kissesOur jasmines to the towns and villagesAll the people smiled for usWhile we are here or theirA way from each othersMay be I saw a pretty womanMay be you saw an old friendButWe are the beginning of love and the end.

Monday, June 16, 2008 | Dr. TAHER ALWAN

Under the Monument to Freedom (Alhuria)

Under the Monument to FreedomStands an old man with a childThey came through the North GateDrunk water in the summer heat of BagdadAnd contemplated the Monument to FreedomThe child was paleThe old man’s face was worn with ageThe moments passed and suddenlyThe foreign soldiers cameStamping their boots and shoutingThe child was scaredThe old man sheltered under the Monument to FreedomAnd looking up cried out:Oh strange soldiers,Has freedom been crucified on the Monument to Freedom?

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*To Read more of my poems , please look the blog`s archieve on the right column

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

Strangers in Uruk

Deep from the heart of UrukThe songs of Sumer can be heardThe night singingVoices of monksIn the temples of Sumer and UrukWe were thereWe passed through temples, palaces and distant placesLooking for our historiesFor our memoriesThe rockets passed over usThe pages of the night were tornThe tanks landedThe voices of the monks stoppedThe small flowers were crushedUruk still shines in its winter nightOld clans disappearedOther clans cameA new dawn arose from the night of beautiful Uruk

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

The Hanging Nation

Two or three years passed since I gathered jasminesTo make a necklace for the nationI thought of the nation like a swingOr a wet- nurse doing the roundsI thought of it as a mule or a donkey carrying the foreigners` bagsI thought of it as a father with a long moustache raising his stick to historyI thought of it as a mother doing the rounds with her round breadA year agoI saw the nation hanging on the Hanging BridgeI said its convoy will settleAnd its children will crawlPast the blocked bridges to their schoolsI saw the nation before the gates of the burnt MinistriesThin, raising its arms to heavenI said the promise of the Founding Fathers will come trueAnd what the New York Times said will come trueAnd what CNN said will come trueAnd what USA Today said will come trueAnd what the BBC said will come trueIt will come true. It will come trueI start feeding the nation wordsAnd giving it speech to drinkWe sleep together on the pavement of the revolutionsCovering ourselves with satisfactionWe had enough good willBut the hanging nation is still hangingAnd the Founding Fathers teach the nation the rules of hypocrisyWhile robbing it as it raises its arms to the heavensAlone, looking at the empty space

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

In memory of Sergio Vieira de Millo

( UN Representative in Iraq assassinated in 2003)

Once upon a time of alienationA woman appeared as if from all the continentsShe lived in Brazil, traveled to Hong Kong,Slept on the plains of AsiaA woman from the mythology of the pastFollowed by shadows, music, incenseWelcomed by rice feasts and ritualsShe gave birth to boy who belonged to the worldDe Millo came to Arachid StreetFollowed by barbed wireAnd army binocularsThe land was awakened by fearAnd slept with ghostsAnd the politicians` pile of trash grew biggerDe Millo made his way through the crowds to see for himselfAnd declared: here is a utopia for those who feel strangers in their own landHe drank many bitter coffeesLooking at the nights of Baghdad he sawNo lovers, no flowers, no love poems of Abi nawasNo poetry of Alrasafi, no Almeidan Square, no cinema lightsDe Millo made a map of Iraqi sadnessHe swam in the marshy watersHe flew with the geese above itHe marked the borders of sufferingHe followed the barbed wire and the binocularsDe Millo came back with a wreath of jasminePainted a people`s utopia in the shape of IraqDe Millo bore the burden under the ruins, fire and bullets.

Thursday, April 10, 2008 | Dr. TAHER ALWAN

By the gates of Baghdad MuseumAre the footprints of past guardsAnd past monks.Words crawlStone museum objects gather.Having opened a hole in the wall with speechAnd draped the museum with songs of freedomThe cowboys pass through the corridors.They stop by the statue of AbsoThey dance the samba by the skeleton of GodyaBy the Tablets they listen to speeches.Time has no meaningNor do the Museum`s treesUntil the convoys come to lift out the crown of Uruk.The incense of the temples follows the aircraftThe monks sip the rest of the bulletsAnd beat the drumsAnd are moved by horses to the Pentagon.Take the blue pumpkin and the birds of the Assyrians!The winged oxen fly over CongressAlmaukeb Street disappears in SohoThe dragonflies hover over Wall StreetAnd the friends of the Museum clapThe futile efforts to reclaim Mesopotamia..................Translated by : J.Tachmintzis

Monday, April 7, 2008 | Dr. TAHER ALWAN

Peace to Baghdad

No one is going to BaghdadNo moon is lighting up its nightsNo sun is brightening up its daysIts children are orphansIts women are sadIts flowers are witheredBaghdad is exhausted by the warFive years after March 2003Five years of destruction and sadnessThe voices of the mosques cry out:The bells of the churches ring:The chimes of the temples sound:Stop the War!Stop the massacres!Stop the rivers of blood!Give the smile back to Iraqi children!Give the land to its people!Stop the War!Stop the killing!Bring back Peace!....................

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

: EU not doing enough on major refugee crisisBrussels (18 March) – As the world marks five years since the invasion of Iraq, the millions of Iraqis displaced inside the country and abroad remain in dire circumstances. The EU and its Member States are not doing enough to support and protect them. In a panel discussion organised in Brussels, an Iraqi writer :Dr.Taher ALWAN, the director of the Iraqi Youth League and several other international experts addressed the role of the EU in the Iraqi displacement crisis."The EU and its Member States cannot continue to ignore one of the world’s major displacement crises" said the group of eight NGOs sponsoring this event. "They are not living up to their responsibility to assist Iraqi asylum seekers, host countries in the region and Iraqis inside the country". These remarks are based on new research about the treatment of Iraqi asylum claims in Europe, the conditions of Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries and the human rights situation in Iraq.Inside Iraq an estimated 6 million people are still in need of urgent humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict. Approximately 2 million of those displaced abroad are hosted by Syria and Jordan, but the strain on their resources is now leading these governments to restrict access to their territory. Most of those allowed to stay live in a legal limbo - they have neither received refugee status nor been granted legal residence or extended visas. The number of Iraqi asylum claims in the EU is incomparably smaller (some 100,000 since 2003), but their treatment varies significantly from one Member State to another, producing an unfair situation whereby the same group of people receive different levels of protection depending on where they are within the EU. Additionally, only 7 EU Member States currently offer resettlement programmes to vulnerable refugees in third countries.In light of the problems above, the eight NGOs call on the EU and Member States to:

ensure effective protection to asylum seekers, wherever they apply in the EU;ensure no one is forcibly returned to Iraq and access to legal status and basic services for those whose asylum claims have been rejected;expand the resettlement programmes to accommodate more Iraqi refugees from third countries, in particular vulnerable groups such as women, children and torture survivors;provide financial and technical assistance to host countries in the region through the UN agencies and NGOs working with the refugee communities;allocate significant funds for emergency response and rehabilitation inside Iraq, including through redirecting funds from the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI).The panel discussion on the EU’s role in the Iraqi displacement crisis took place on19 March, at 10:30am at the Brussels think tank, The Centre.

available for interviews before and after the event - include Dr.Taher Alwan, an Iraqi lived in Belgium and member of Amnesty Belgium; Majeed F. Mutar, Director of an Iraqi humanitarian NGO; and experts from the sponsoring NGOs who have just returned from field missions in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. The NGOs organizing the panel discussion are: Amnesty International; European Council on Refugees and Exiles; International Catholic Migration Commission; International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims; International Rescue Committee; Islamic Relief Worldwide; Mercy Corps; and Norwegian Refugee Council.

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

A new Tower of Babel? Iraqis flee sectarian violence

Interviewed by : DPA

Brussels - Professor Taher Alwan , used to teach at Baghdad University's institute of fine arts.In 1996, he left Iraq in protest at Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, but gladly returned after the US-led invasion of 2003 with high hopes for his country.He founded a film festival to support Iraq's new generation of film-makers and a non-governmental organization (NGO) that produces documentaries about human rights.But success brought public recognition, and unwanted attention from the country's militias. Forced to change his home three times by a series of death threats, he finally decided to leave his family and worldly possessions behind and flee to Belgium, where he has been living .'Still today, I do not understand why they'd want to threaten a film-maker. Perhaps it was because I invited girls and boys to attend meetings together, or maybe it is because I criticized the abuse of women's rights ' Alwan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in an interview in Brussels.'But what I do know is that while I am no politician, the threats were certainly politically motivated,' he added.Alwan is one of more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled their country amid the sectarian violence that has erupted since the US-led invasion. Most of them now live in neighbouring Syria and Jordan, while only a fraction of them have made it to Europe.NGO workers active in Iraq complain that the tackling the problem of sectarian violence in the wrong way. Instead of fostering mutual understanding, they are driving an ever deeper wedge between Shia and Sunni, Christians and Kurds.And this strategy, they warn, risks encouraging more people like Alwan to seek asylum abroad.

| Dr. TAHER ALWAN

IRAQI CINEMA IN WAR AND PEACE

MASTER CLASS IN ECOCINEMA FILM FESTIVAL - ATHENS

BY TAHER ALWAN

Cinema at times of peace, cinema at times of war, is the story of Iraqi cinema to be told. A cinema struggling to keep alive under difficult conditions.,with many obstacles and very limited resources.Iraqi cinema goes back to the 40s, under the influence of the modern cinema movements of the time. In the 60s and 70s the film industry developed, but soon became part of the government machinery ending up as a propaganda tool for the war of the 80s. Nonetheless, infrastructure for cinema was developing as were educational and training possibilities for film makers, and funding was available from the Ministry of Culture.The 1991 and 2003 invasions brought many setbacks to film making. Many cinemas were closed, many institutions stopped working, funding dried up, people became concerned by other immediate needs for survival.However, there is reason for optimism. Iraqi film makers have not given up. Concrete proof is the fact that over 400 independent documentaries have been made since the first appeared in 1922, and the fact that the International Bagdad Film Festival was founded in 2005.